1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to apparatus for assembling a package to be used in displaying a compact disc or other media at a point of sale in stores, and for later storage in the home. The present invention also includes a process for assembly of the media package. Other media packages includes CD, ROMs, Optical ROMs, cassette tapes, laser discs or video tapes.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Compact discs ("CD") have become the medium of choice for recorded music. The compact discs have also presented packaging difficulties. A CD package has been needed which is large enough to provide adequate surface area for advertising in retail establishments, and which is large enough to discourage shoplifting.
The packaging must also be usable in the home or elsewhere for storage of the compact disc. Of course, the packaging for home storage is preferably no larger than needed to adequately store the compact disc.
In the prior art, this resulted in one storage package, such as a jewel box, for the home being overwrapped with additional disposable material to constitute the retail package. The hinged storage box is referred to as a jewel box and was usually a polymer of polystyrene which was very scratchable and very difficult to recycle. This large retail package and/or packaging was immediately thrown away by the customer, and then moved into the solid waste stream. CD packages were needed which could perform the two functions of retail display and home storage without immediately generating large amounts of solid waste. An additional problem was that the outside retail package was often made of non-biodegradable plastic and was not environmentally appropriate, especially to recycle.
The succeeding generation of compact disc packages was formed from a long rectangle of paper material, such as cardboard. A plastic compact disc holder was mounted to the cardboard. The cardboard and plastic holder had one configuration for store display and is known as a DigiPak. After purchase, the customer reconfigured the plastic holder and folded the cardboard to reconfigure the package to a smaller size for home use. Therefore, none of the package was immediately thrown away. Additionally, the package could be made to employ more biodegradable paper products and olefin type polymers which are more easily recycled. This form of package posed new problems for compact disc loading on the CD package.
The present invention is an apparatus which can quickly and efficiently assemble the plastic parts to the paper parts to create a modern style package configuration, known as an EcoPak. As new formats of recording media are introduced, such as mini discs, this style of packaging will be adapted to the various sizes for CD, ROMs, laser discs, audio tapes and even video tapes. Additionally, the present invention embodies other material disc holders besides plastic as such materials become available.